DUSHANBE, December 21, 2015, Asia-Plus – Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, heading a high-ranking delegation, is participating in a session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)’s Collective Security Council that is taking place in Moscow today.
The Tajik president’s official website says Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov, Minister of Defense Sherali Mirzo, Security Council Secretary Abdurahim Qahhorov and President’s Adviser on Foreign Policy Issues Erkinkhon Rahmatullozoda are accompanying Rahmon on his trip to Moscow.
According to the SCTO Secretariat, the session’s agenda includes choosing a successor for Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha and adopting a statement on the fight against terrorism.
Leaders of the CSTO member nations are reportedly also discussing a broad range of issues related to providing regional security and addressing international terrorism.
Rahmon is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the session, the source said.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
